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Edited by Dukaness:
4/27/2015 9:12:42 PM
86
House of Wolves - How to Prepare
[b]I'm telling you straight up, this is a long read. I like to be detailed, shoot me. It's worth your time.[/b]
Above is the link to a forum explaining most of the major changes and additions we can expect in the HoW release. So what's next? Speculation, of course! How can we use the information in the link above to prepare ourselves for HoW? I have some insight below. Please understand that this was originally geared towards my clan. However, I've learned a lot from people on this forum so I figured I'd give back a bit. [u]As a result, this is going to help older players the most, but newer players may be able to draw something from it as well.[/u]
[b]Glimmer is not a Factor in House of Wolves[/b]
The first thing I want to talk about is glimmer. This isn't a helpful pointer, but more of a "have you thought about this yet?" idea. I'm predicting a major oversight by Bungie regarding glimmer. My prediction is that glimmer will not even be a factor a in the HoW release. What were the two main reasons you were short on glimmer when TDB dropped? My guess is the following:
[b]1)[/b] To upgrade exotic weapons and armor, you needed to trade your exotic in to Xur, with an exotic shard and around 7.5k glimmer. 3 exotics in one week would nearly deplete your entire stack.
[b]2)[/b] Then, you needed to spend thousands of glimmer and weapon/armor parts [u]re-upgrading the nodes[/u]. That was just the exotics. Your legendary weapons and armor were deemed useless due to higher damage weapons and the increase in level cap, respectively. This caused you to level up new weapons and armor, thus costing you glimmer.
[i]What Changed?[/i]
This time around you will not need to spend 7.5k glimmer on your exotics. Instead you will need 1.5k glimmer (along with an exotic shard). Further, when you upgrade your purple items, you will spend far less glimmer because your progress is not reset. To be honest, I can't think of anything you'll actually need glimmer for, other than the odd new piece of gear or weapon you buy/find. Those weapons and armor will be spaced out, and even then will not require that much glimmer.
[i]Breaking the Glimmer Currency System[/i]
Even further to this, we can now exchange materials for glimmer. I personally have:
- 25k glimmer
- 33k in consumables in my vault
- 1,000 Ascendant Materials at 250 glimmer each = 250k glimmer
That's a total of 303k glimmer available at any given time. 303k. Think about that. How many consumables do you have? How many spare Ascendant Materials? Not to mention Radiant Materials can also be traded in. What could you possibly spend 303k glimmer on? Nothing, so glimmer won't be a big deal. [b]*DISCLAIMER*[/b] You will probably want to spend most of your Ascendant Materials on Motes of Light to re-roll new weapons, so the 303k is obviously overstated. My point is that the glimmer is there if you need it. Lastly, I get that not everyone has 1,000 Ascendant Materials. Some have more, some less. Even if you only have a couple hundred, that's 50k glimmer.
[b]Faction Reputation and Commendations[/b]
I want to talk about reputation and commendations next. Before TDB started I [u]STRONGLY[/u] recommended that everyone left their faction reputation at 2490/2500. This was because you would instantly have 3 commendations after TDB started and be able to hit level 31. Now that commendations are useless, you shouldn't put yourself in a position to level up your factions immediately, right? Wrong. Let's say you leave VG, CR, DO, FWC and NW all at 2490/2500. You hit the next rank of each faction almost immediately [i]after the expansion drops[/i] (to hit the next rank, do a patrol mission or open a saved package, this way you can save your bounties for upgrading new gear and weapons [Credit: Skinny Dr Mitch]). You will have 5 packages to open, which means 5 chances at HoW weapons and gear. You could get a 365 weapon or level 32 gear before you even visit the reef (yes, most of us are already 32). That's something worth setting up. You could even do that on more than one character. Hardcore players could have 15 packages to open (3 characters times 5 packages). As a result, I [u]strongly[/u] recommend executing this strategy.
[i]Taking it a Step Further (April 27th EDIT)[/i]
In addition to the above, you can take advantage of the Cryptarch. For starters, I have seen some chatter that hording legendary engrams today will possibly get you HoW gear if you decrypt them after HoW is released. [b]This is not true.[/b] I tested this with a friend for TDB, and it did not work. When you get an engram, it's coded to give you gear [b]relevant to the time you earned it[/b]. However, there is still a point in hording engrams. I would suggest bringing your Cryptarch reputation to 2925 (one blue engram or less before you hit the next rank). Then start hording engrams. On day one of HoW, turn in one of your blues, and [u]instantly get a Cryptarch package[/u] with a chance at new legendary engrams. If you save up 40 blues, or some other combination of blues and purples, you can get 1, possibly even 2 packages. A couple extra chances at early weapons and gear! And like always, what do you have to lose? Nothing, unless you need those blue engrams today, which I doubt.
One last extra hint on this topic: if you save up enough engrams, you'll start running out of space in your vault and on characters. I'd recommend deliberately not picking up blue engrams that you find. They will go to the Post Master, who has 20 slots free for things you missed. Leave the engrams there until the expansion drops. It's just another storage technique you can take advantage of.
[b]Why Buying Armor is Pointless[/b]
Obviously you should be going into the HoW expansion with 200 Crucible and Vanguard Marks on each character (if possible), as well as many planetary materials. You don't need them now (unless you're newer to the game), so you may as well save them. But what should you spend them on? Guns? Armor? Material? You should have material. So it comes down to gear and weapons. And my initial theory is that gear is useless: If you're like me, you have multiple pieces all four armor types at 36 light, for various situations. Therefore, you likely already have a sweet character class layout, something you're comfortable with. And you're probably level 32. New vendor gear only gets you to level 32 (before using Etheric Light). So you could buy gear and end up at the same level you already were. I don't see the sense in that. My understanding is that older gear and new gear will require the same amount of Etheric Light to upgrade them to hit level 34. Therefore, you can hit level 34 with your current gear just as fast as you would with new gear. As a result, I recommend you spend your marks on weapons.
There are 2 arguments I can think of against what I just said:
[b]1)[/b] New gear has new perks. Those perks could be relevant to end game content or superior to your current gear's perks. In this case, it'll be a matter of judgment.
[b]2)[/b] Crota's end gear is "geared" towards Crota's End. It's less effective in other PvE situations than newer gear probably will be.
[b]More Reasons to Buy Weapons Before Gear[/b]
In addition to the above paragraphs, there are two more reasons to spend your marks on weapons instead of gear.
[b]1)[/b] Weapons can be [u]re-rolled[/u], gear cannot. This is beneficial because you are not at the mercy of the vendor stalk. How many weapons did you want to buy since Destiny was released, but you didn't bother because the roll was garbage? That won't happen anymore. Now you can buy that sweet hand cannon for it's base stats, and then just roll it until you're satisfied. You can't do that with gear, so you're getting more out of your weapons.
[b]2)[/b] That pesky Etheric Light. What's the first thing you're going to spend Etheric Light on? I would recommend armor. It's no secret that this game is easier when you're a higher level. Therefore, upgrading that Fatebringer to 365 should be prioritized after you upgrade your armor. Would you rather be level 33 with a new set of HoW weapons, or level 32 with a brand new Fatebringer (and more weapons)? I have a feeling a lot of you smiled and said "Fatebringer", but you know the true answer is that you should hit level 33 ASAP (and then 34). This reinforces my point: [u]buy weapons first, gear later.[/u]
[b]Conclusion[/b]
To wrap this up let me give you my recommended order of attack. Before HoW, get your rank up to 2490/2500 with as many factions as possible on as many characters as possible (2925 for the Cryptarch). The minute you open your game on the 19th of May, hand in bounties and receive faction packages. Discard commendations for more reputation, and then open packages received from those as well. Then hand in engrams and receive Cryptarch packages. Evaluate your loot from said packages, and then buy weapons according to what you're missing. Lastly, have a blast. I look forward to ripping up the Prison of Elders with you guardians, and probably getting my ass handed to me in Trials of Osiris.
- Duke
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1 ReplyHow to prepare, turn on game and play as 32 with primary exotic upgraded easy
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1 ReplyI have also been saving up my cryptarch packages, since they have engrams in them. Many purple engrams in addition to the ones in my vault, so maybe 2-3 levels of craptarch.
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1 Replyreply
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Id say that this is Super Good Advice.
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that read wasnt long. :p good advice, im already doing all this anyway, but still thanks!
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1 ReplyGood write up
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3 RepliesEdited by biribu: 4/27/2015 7:04:14 PMThere was a reply to this original post this morning with the list of all context that did not make it to the final Destiny version. I bump it so I can read it later but now it is nowhere to be found? Why it got removed? Anyone who has a link to it?
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1 ReplyEdited by KIjackalLL: 4/27/2015 5:27:59 PMCan I post this on my clan page? Lot of good information I'd like to share with them. Never mind. Just linked it in the group chat.
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6 Repliesvery well written duke. I've already done most of this (except the faction part.) if you were to add anything to your very helpful and informative post, i would put it to start saving legendary engrams, for the chance of HOW gear.
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1 ReplyAmazing tips!
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13 Repliesthe original way you were going to get exotics here is some party's ]SUROS Regime was known as ARCUS Regime and you could switch firing modes. Red Death was supposed to be an Auto Rifle, but the devs realized that there were less Pulse Rifles so they switched things around and the perk was supposed to heal you IF you scored a precision kill. You were able to equip any gun be it legendary or exotic way before hitting lvl 20. But in favor of end game mechanics, the devs scrapped that idea. Sniper Rifles were supposed to be on the Heavy slot and hand cannons on the special slot. But the devs felt that it didn't quite fit in for some unexplained reason. Kinda stupid this one actually. Gjallarhorn was known as Ragnarok during its first stages of development and the perk was actually called Gjallarhorn, but that changed obviously. A perk only achieved after fully leveling up a subclass granted that final bit of attributes to max out either armor, recovery, and agility. But the devs and their shenanigans scrapped the idea. When gear was fully leveled, you could purchase a final upgrade which increased defense and attack but locked out previous choices. You could equip any armor type and still be able to reach the max light level, but this never made it to the final stage of development. Khvostov 7G-02 was going to be the first stage of an exotic Auto Rifle called "Ancestor" it description was "A lost gun in a lost world. But thanks to you, it has reached the pinnacle of it's existence." One of it's perks was known as "Ancient Ally" which granted more super energy upon a kill and spawned an orb of light when scoring a precision kill. Another perk was known as "Vengeance." This perk increased weapon damage, at the cost of reload speed. Even though "Ancestor" was a futuristic version of Khvostov 7G-02, one of the sights for this gun was "The Broken Visor" which is the one we know today. Hard Light had a final perk which made it an ARC weapon, but locked out previous choices, so the devs dropped the perk. Warlocks had a final perk which made it possible to max out the recovery attribute, same with Titans and Hunters, but for Titans it was armor, and for Hunters it was agility. Crest of Alpha Lupi was going to be a reward from Alpha Lupi herself after rescuing her from the Fallen, but this along with the original story of Destiny was scrapped out. Thorn was only obtainable via Charlemagne's Vault, but it was turned into a bounty instead. Charlemagne's Vault is a raid located on Mars, below the Dust Palace. The final boss for this raid was supposed to be Charlemagne himself, a mad Guardian gone rouge and working with the cabal. Every exotic had a specific task in order to acquire them. SUROS Regime was obtainable after bringing golden age blueprints to SUROS and making them fabricate the weapon using the blueprints. Thunderlord (before the E3 presentation) was obtainable after defeating a Fallen Baron and looting his vault. Patience and Time was a gift from Cayde-6 himself after completing his final personal mission. Ikora Rey gifted you Invective, and Commander Zavala gifted you Gjallarhorn after finding the armor and weapon parts of fallen Guardians during the battle of Twilight gap. These armor and weapon parts could only be found while exploring Twilight Gap and defeating special enemies and bosses located there. Fate of All Fools was obtainable after completing the Trials of Osiris (Not the multiplayer mode) before the rework of Destiny, you must complete special trials made by Osiris himself in order to gain access to a portion of the game, this was scrapped and made into a bounty instead. Hard Light was a gift from the Reef. The Vex Mythoclast was obtained after clearing VoG (This hasn't changed). Super Good Advice could only be obtained by finding it. Supposedly, you had to hunt down Kabr and his team after disappearing all of a sudden. You would encounter them except Kabr, approaching Pahanim's corpse would trigger a cutscene explaining what happened and your guardian picking up Super Good Advice. This weapon also had a personality itself and could interact with the player and say things when shooting and killing enemies. Also, after the cutscene, you stand before the VoG, unlocking the raid in the process. Vault of Glass consisted of rescuing Kabr and fighting along side him against Atheon, he would then sacrifice himself and forge Aegis Shield, allowing your team to finish off Atheon. But after the rework of the story of the game, this was scrapped and made into a Grimoire instead. The Queen's brother is known as Crow. Before accessing the reef, you had to survive waves of Fallen in the arena. Doing so would then grant you a session with the queen and continue the story. Humans, Exos, and Awoken had different story lines. The story line we know today is from the Exo. The human story line consisted of you surviving a Fallen raid and arriving at the city, you would seek refuge at the Tower, there Ghost would approach you and make you a Guardian, for it sensed the light within you. The Awoken started at the reef, being judged by the queen and eventually exiled form the reef. You would then fight your way out and arrive to the Last City. Earth was supposed to be the last planet to be unlocked and most difficult one to complete. There are 3 factions not present in the game. There is a 5th enemy race, supposedly the one with the triangle ships. The Fallen and the Cabal are actually allies. We can't see that because there isn't an area were the 2 races are together. The Hive hasn't encountered the Cabal and the Vex yet. The fallen is the only race to have encountered all other races. Before the rework of Destiny, Guardians had AI followers to choose from. Companions to aid you in battle. The Exo stranger, Crow, and rougue Guardians were part of the roster of companions who tagged along during missions and arena battles on the reef. Kinda how the Arbiter and SGT Johnson helped you back in Halo 3, but with improved mechanics and AI of course. But unfortunately, this was scrapped and fireteams were introduced. Still prefer AI companions... they don't go AFK during a match. (note: this fact about Talkative-9 is a rumor, so I'm not 100%, but nonetheless, I think it's hilarious. Credit goes to AftermathSoldier07) There was a funny, mysterious vendor called Talkative-9. He always appeared during missions and strikes. The role of Talkative-9 was to jump into a nasty firefight along with the Guardians and start to talk to them and offer sweet deals and items for purchase. Talkative-9 could be killed by the enemy, doing so would increase his stock prices immensely the next time he appeared, so Guardians must tolerate his annoying banter and protect him from the enemy. After clearing the area, you could then interact with Talkative-9 and see his wares. They supposedly ranged from common weapons to legendary weapons and armors. And upgrade materials. His currency was motes of light, glimmer, and materials. Talkative-9 is not an exo, he is a drone like those found in the Tower. Xur, the infamous Agent of the Nine, didn't sold exotic weapons and armor. Instead, he provided items that could increase the light level of all armors that were rare or legendary. He also sold items that upgraded weapons as well. Last but not least, Xur was the only way to fully upgrade and exotic item. He also sold materials and engrams. Bad Juju was supposed to be a VOID weapon, Last Word was SOLAR, and Hard Light was ARC. Patience and Time had a perk that allowed you to shoot ammo boxes and collect the ammo from any distance. Ice Breaker was obtainable by bringing a broken sniper rifle to Banshee-44. He would then attempt to fix it, but instead he breaks it again. But he actually perfected it, hence receiving Ice Breaker. The Last Word was obtainable by defeating Malphur in a 1V1 combat on the arena. It was part of the story, before bungie reworked it all up. Truth was obtainable by doing a special mission for the Speaker. He would give you an amulet that needed to be brought to Xur. Xur would then hand over a Launcher. Bringing this Launcher to Banshee would then be crafted into Truth. Universal Remote was only obtainable by raiding the Cabal Imperial Land Tank. It was part of the Story, before Bungie reworked the story of Destiny. Shaxx was supposed to appear along side Saladin during Iron Banner events. Saladin handed over armors and class items, while Shaxx geared you up with weapons and buffs. The lovely cryptarch... There were supposed to be 3 cryptarchs. A human and exo along with the awoken bastard we know today. You could interact with the Fallen found on the reef. There was even supposed to be a Fallen vendor. She would sell primarily ARC weapons and armors with high discipline. During a mission on the Reef, your primary objective was to escort a wounded Dreg to the queen. Failing the mission would lead to the execution of the Dreg, completing it however, would still lead to the execution of the Dreg, but you get a reward from the Queen. This was scrapped after the rework of the story. Remember that Earth was supposed to be the last planet to unlock? Well, after a mission, a cutscene shows your guardian escaping from the Reef. He is shot down and crash landed on Earth. See that big crashed ship on Earth we see today? That was supposed to be YOUR ship. After the crash, you would then have to find a new ship. Which is the same one we get when we first started Destiny. EVERYBODY COPY AND PASTE AND BUMP SO EVERYONE CAN SEE
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2 RepliesThis... is genius. I haven't played in months, can't wait to get back into this game!
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2 RepliesBump. Well done!!
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10 RepliesLol anyone who tries take strategy advice from someone with only a 30 n 32 of the same class.. You should already know that's fail advice.
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(╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻ FLIP THAT TABLE. ┻━┻ ︵ ヽ(°□°ヽ) FLIP THIS TABLE. ┻━┻ ︵ ＼(`0`)/／ ︵ ┻━┻ FLIP ALL THE TABLES ಠ_ಠ Sir . . ಠ_ಠ Put. ಠ__ಠ The tables. ಠ___ಠ Back. (╮°-°)╮┳━┳ (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻ NEVER (•_•) <) )╯because I'm / \ ⊂_ヽ ＼＼ ＿ ＼( •_•) F < ⌒ヽ A / へ＼ B / / ＼＼ U ﾚ ノ ヽ_つ L / / O / /| U ( (ヽ S | |、＼ | 丿 ＼ ⌒) | | ) / `ノ ) Lﾉ (_／
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3 RepliesAlthough I will be doing what you mentioned as I did for house of wolves, I want to point out that even though you are handing in packages and getting "new" HoW guns. The only way this will give you and advantage is if one of the guns comes with a ridiculous set of new perks that proves useful in end game content. Either way, the guns will be 331 attack (just like ours now) until one gains etheric light to upgrade them. Etheric light is not just used for old weapons to make them 365, but also to bring new weapons from 331-->365 (according to my understanding from watching the stream)
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4 RepliesI've heard different theories about the vendor gear. Some say it'll get you to 34 and others say it will get you to 32 so I'm confused.
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1 ReplyActually very helpful, thanks.
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Here's a bump cause I get what you're saying.
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3 RepliesNot defending the lack of content in Destiny, but I think all of this preparation to get gear quickly is why people get burnt out. I mean from the way I see it, if you are very very prepared to hit the max level and level your weapons within the first week of release, you're just gonna get tired of playing those same missions and strikes over and over even faster. Yes you are reducing the grind but at the same time you are minimizing the experience and time spent just enjoying the game. Doing the grind for a specific reason such as rank or materials or marks or gear is exactly that, your goal and reason to play. I just think that maybe being a bit more casual about it would extend your time enjoying the new content and features. Just my $.02.
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3 RepliesSorry if you mentioned it above but I didn't catch it. Will the upgrade system in HoW reset the weapon/armor? I don't want to be grinding my gear now if it will be reset later.
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8 RepliesOne comment here - won't vendor gear be 331 anyway? So either way it will need to be upgraded to 365 with etheric light.
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10 RepliesYou don't realize there is new social area reef with new vendors factions etc. Old vendors gonna give old tdb gear. New reef for new gear. They not gonna allow this pre farming of gear thru packages for their once a year update and content release . Come on wake up
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1 Reply10/10 very helpful
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1 ReplyThanks for putting the time into the explanation. Good info, and honestly just some things people like myself don't think about. I'm one of those types that's just plays along and figures it out over time. I'm not worried about first day events as much as just getting into it and traveling around to see what's what. However, these are great tips of things to do now while waiting for 5/19 Thanks man
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1 ReplySolid post. Good info. Can't wait!
